Corey McBride set to build his football résumé

Dutchtown WR trying to improve his football stock

It’s a good vocational choice. Yet it’s also clear the Dutchtown High wide receiver/track and field sprinter understands economics when it comes college athletics.

McBride has run the 100 meters in 10.6 seconds. It’s a time he may have topped in the spring had he not pulled a hamstring in the District 5-5A meet.

When it comes to football, McBride is viewed as a track star that plays football. The Dutchtown High senior-to-be is working to change that perception.

“Everybody wants that full scholarship,” McBride said. “In football, you get the full ride, everything paid for.”

That’s in contrast to track, where athletes are usually asked to accept partial scholarships.

McBride isn’t ranked among Louisiana’s top wide receiver prospects. He, however, has no doubt that he will play the sport where he’s not considered to be a top recruit.

“I might go somewhere that lets me do both (football and track),” McBride said. “But I’d have to see how it goes. Football at the next level takes a lot of time.”

McBride has a modest football résumé in the Griffins’ run-oriented offense. Shelby Christy, a Mississippi State signee, was DHS’ top receiver a year ago.

As a junior, McBride caught 15 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns.

He also had eight carries for 118 yards and another TD. McBride has all the tools to become a key weapon this season on the football field, coach Benny Saia said.

“(McBride) is certainly a kid with tremendous natural ability,” Saia said. “If he works on what he needs to do to be a better football player, he can definitely play at the Division I level.”

Not only is he fast, he’s also 6-foot-2 and a slender 185 pounds. On film, McBride’s height and burst make him jump off the screen as a prospect.

Why isn’t McBride among the big names coming out of Louisiana? There are a few of reasons in addition to those junior season statistics.

First and foremost, he’s coming out in the wrong year.

Louisiana boasts two of the nation’s top three wide receivers according to ESPN’s Recruiting Nation in Malachi Dupre (John Curtis) and Trey Quinn (Barbe-Lake Charles).

Cameron Sims of Monroe’s Ouachita High is also one of the nation’s top receivers and Speedy Noil of Karr, while listed as the nation’s top “athlete” by ESPN, is widely considered to be a future college receiver.

Another reason may be Dutchtown’s history of talent.

The Griffins had two past stars, Eddy Lacy of Alabama and Eric Reid of LSU, picked in the NFL draft this spring. Last season, Saia’s team had enough weapons to put McBride in a supporting role.

Dutchtown, 8-3 last season, also threw to hybrid running back/receiver Torrance Mosley, a rising senior who’s also receiving college interests as a slot receiver

“Shelby was the one getting the extra attention from defenses last year; the one they were trying to stop,” Saia said. “This year, that’s going to be Corey.”

With Christy in the Southeastern Conference and Mosley set to be Dutchtown’s top running back, that puts a heavy burden on McBride in the passing game. Not only will he be the primary receiver, he may be asked to be a calming influence on a new quarterback.

Saia said three candidates are battling to be the starting QB. All three will look to McBride to make their transition easier.

“The good ones get the extra attention (from defenses) and still get production,” Saia said. “Corey’s going to have to be able to do that.”

Which brings another reason McBride hasn’t received more attention: He has work to do to improve his game.

While McBride is a life-long football player, track success in middle school and early in his high school career perhaps had McBride’s focus.

Track honed his speed — he runs 40-yard dashes in around 4.4 seconds — but he has not mastered the arts of route running and catching the football. He said this summer has been about rectifying those issues.

“I work on those things every day,” McBride said. “It’s a challenge, and I love a challenge.”

Some colleges are already banking on McBride to step up to that challenge. While LSU hasn’t offered a scholarship — and, with its attention on the likes of Quinn, Dupre and Noil, likely won’t — McBride is getting major offers from elsewhere.

McBride and Saia said Arkansas has offered and is his current leader.

While Florida State has not offered, McBride said the Seminoles are showing a lot of interest, and he will try to visit Tallahassee in hopes of an offer.

McBrides has also been offered by Utah and Tulane, Saia said. The University of Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana Tech and McNeese are among other state schools who have offered McBride.

McBride said he plans on picking his school before his high school season is over. Between now and then, he hopes to show more programs that he’s the prospect they think he is.

“He just needs to have a big senior year,” Saia said.

After all, college coaches already know he’s tall and can run like a track star.

Question is, can he produce like a player worthy of that full-ride football scholarship he covets?